Mars – June 2, 2016

It is very difficult to observe Mars these days. Despite presenting a large apparent diameter (due to a rather close proximity to Earth) the Red Planet glides only around 22 degrees above the horizon at my location (45 degrees North). The atmospheric seeing is, of course, rather bad at that altitude, and thus imaging Mars is more of an exercise rather than trying to get the best details possible. And so, an exercise was conducted on the night of June 2, just days after the planet’s opposition. Following is the resulted near-infrared image.